Comedian Eddie Izzard came to town yesterday and talked about Gordon Brown’s “bigoted woman” gaffe.

He was visiting the two Labour candidates Anneliese Dodds and Naz Sarkar on the campaign trail to give their election chances a boost.

Mr Izzard explaining why he backed the Labour party said: “I believe in fairness and I believe the Labour party believes in fairness.”

Party flunkies tried to stop a question about Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s gaffe, but Mr Izzard was perfectly happy to answer.

He said: “Well, some people are entitled to their opinion and Gordon disagreed with them and so … but he’s apologised for using the word that he used but if you look it up in the dictionary, you know, it just says that people who have decided their opinion and won’t listen to other opinions so, you know, I think it’s a storm in a teacup.

“But people are entitled to their views and Gordon shouldn’t have said it.”

He spoke up for Labour’s record on Sure Start, the minimum wage and doubling spending on education and the health service.

He said: “These are things which I am really pleased about and I don’t want the Tories coming in and taking that apart.”

And he confirmed his plans to become a politician himself in ten years’ time.

He said he had volunteered to campaign with Labour adding: “I am not being wheeled out, I am self-wheeled, self-propelled.”

The rest of Reading greeted Mr Izzard with enthusiasm, many congratulating him on his Marathon Man efforts for Sports Relief in which he completed 43 marathons in 51 days.

“You’re a legend, Eddie,” said one passer by.

He also chatted to Michael Arnold in Hard Edge in Queen Victoria Street because they had a mutual friend in Ted, the rickshaw driver who accompanied Mr Izzard on his marathons.

After walking through the town centre he went up to Reading International Solidarity Centre in London Street for a private meeting with the candidates and the party faithful.